Auburn linebacker Darren Bates returns a second-half interception against Clemson on Saturday. Like so many other opportunities, however, Auburn was unable to cash the turnover in for a touchdown. (The Birmingham News/Hal Yeager)

ATLANTA -- With two new coordinators, a new quarterback and
a slew of other new starters, Auburn came into its season-opening Chick-fil-A Kickoff
Classic matchup with Clemson with a bunch of questions in need of answers.

Like the points on the scoreboard Saturday, the Tigers got a
few, but not enough.

On the one hand, the Tigers took the No. 14 team in the country
down to the wire in Saturday's 26-19 loss, trading punches the entire way. It wasn't until Andre Ellington broke the
final big run of a 231-yard night that Clemson put the game
away and even then, Auburn made them settle for a field goal.

On the other, Auburn came up lacking in a game that was
theirs for the taking. Missed opportunities plagued the offense. Missed tackles
did in the defense.

The offensive line, playing with two new tackles and without
its starting center, and the running game were positives. Tre Mason notched his
first 100-yard game with 106 yards on 14 carries and Onterio McCalebb added 82
as new coordinator Scot Loeffler emphasized the ground game and a play-action
passing attack. Keihl Frazier only completed 40 percent of his passes, but made
big plays with a 54-yard touchdown to Emory Blake and a 38-yard strike down the
seam to Philip Lutzenkirchen to set up a field goal.

Time after time, however, the Tigers were forced to settle
for field goals in the red zone. Frazier
couldn't connect with Trovon Reed in the back of the end zone on one missed
opportunity. A holding penalty doomed another promising possession. The Tigers
were only 4-of-13 on third-down conversions.

For the defense, allowing 26 points to an explosive Clemson
offense doesn't sound so bad, particularly when one recalls the 624 yards and
38 points the Tigers allowed in last year's meeting. But Clemson's other
numbers paint a much uglier picture for Brian VanGorder: 528 total yards, 320
rushing yards, 47 percent third-down conversions, 28 first downs.

While Auburn's pass rush is improved, Clemson quarterback
Tajh Boyd frequently burned the Tigers with his feet in the second half.
Receivers repeatedly found openings in the Auburn secondary – particularly
DeAndre Hopkins, who caught 13 balls for 119 yards and a touchdown. And Ellington,
a powerful back whom Clemson coach Dabo Swinney described as "relentless," made the Tigers pay for
poor tackling.

While both defenses showed red-zone resolve, Clemson repeatedly shot itself
in the foot with penalties and dropped passes or the final score could have
been worse.

"Five hundred and twenty-eight yards, that's great. But what
did we leave out there?" Swinney wondered afterward. "We
were a better team than Auburn tonight. That's all we know."

Swinney, whose Tigers gave up 70 points the last time they
took the field, said former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield spoke
to his team before Saturday's game about perseverance. "He's the only five-time
heavyweight world champion," Swinney said of Holyfield. "He got beat 11 times.
Then what'd he do? He'd come back. That's what champions do."

That's Auburn's job now -- to pick itself up off the Georgia
Dome mat and start slugging again. To go back to the drawing board, back to
film room, pinpoint how it took this uppercut to the jaw and prepare to fight
another day. Mississippi State and the rest of the SEC schedule await.

"One of the great things about playing in a game like this,
this early in the season, is that I think you have a very good idea of not only
where you are at this moment, but where you need to go," Chizik said. "We've
got a long way to go, as we all saw."

It is up to Chizik and his new braintrust to figure out how
to get there.